Mended Hearts Open Forum

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  • 1.  Post op anxiety

    Posted 10-07-2020 13:10
    I'm a year and half post op after a triple CABG and am still dealing with anxiety issues. Not so much on a day-to-day basis, thankfully, but anything medically related causes me intense anxiety. Never had a problem with this before the surgery. MRI's, dental procedures, etc., put me into a state of deep anxiety. I had a cracked molar that I had to have extracted yesterday and as soon they put me in the chair I started having a major anxiety attack. I thought I was going to have make them stop the procedure. Fortunately I took some calming breaths and was able to get through it but it is such an usual experience for me that I really don't know how to handle it. Anyone else dealing with this post op? Any suggestions on how to get past it?

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    Brett Temple
    Project Manager
    Sarasota FL
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  • 2.  RE: Post op anxiety

    Posted 10-30-2020 08:43
    Hi Brett,
    It sounds like you have developed an anxiety disorder. You should talk to your PCP and/or cardiologist about getting counseling and maybe medication.
    I too have anxiety. I had counseling and take medication.

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    Janis MINER
    Rochester NY
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  • 3.  RE: Post op anxiety

    Posted 10-30-2020 10:04
    Good Morning Brett,
    I'm not sure if you are still feeling this new anxiety. If so, may I recommend this book, "Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry, by Catherine Pittman.
    I too developed some anxiety and fear after my surgery. I saw a therapist to help me through those times. She had recommended I read this book. It's a really good read!
    Best of luck to you!
    Michelle


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    michelle leverett
    Ridgecrest CA
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  • 4.  RE: Post op anxiety

    Posted 10-30-2020 13:40
    Hello Brett,
    I agree with Janis. I also take medication for stress. It can be a form of PTSD. A 
    CABG is a major life-changing event and shows us how easily we could have passed away and just how fragile life can be. Knowing this is half the battle but counseling would be in order. Remember the mind has to heal just like the rest of the body after major surgery. It is OK to ask for help with that as well. 
    Take care and understand you are not alone. Many of us have similar issues.

    Richard Short 
    MH Chapter 395





  • 5.  RE: Post op anxiety

    Posted 10-31-2020 21:17

    Brett,

    People feel anxiety about anything from impending death to loss of a friendship to losing a job to failing an exam.  Basically, you can have anxiety about anything that happens in life.  And you know what?  It feels miserable no matter what the reason.  The fact of the matter is that anxiety has nothing to do with your life experience or tour heart disease.  It is about what you believe that experience means for your future.

    That is the good news.  If your anxiety and fear is based upon your beliefs, you can overcome those fears by simply realizing that your beliefs 
    are just your beliefs rather than absolute reality.  You can recognize that anxiety is predicated upon what you fear may happen in the future and that there is no guarantee that the future will happen in the way that you fear or that you will wind up feeling the way you now imagine you will feel even if what you fear actually occurs.

    Bottom line is that whatever you have suffered, whether it is quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery plus two week medically induced coma with 50/50 survival chances (me) or heart failure or heart valve surgery or terminal cancer or banything you can imagine under the sun, it is a "mere flesh wound" as stated by the knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it "don't mean nothing, not a thing" to those here that once said or heard this said. and to those of us here who have learned that lesson though our own life and death experiences or those of our children who died before us.

    Smell the roses, brother, be here now, kiss mother earth on which you stand, right here right now, love your family, love and forgive yourself and forgive God in whatever form you believe he manifests.  Better yet, realize that there is nothing that needs to be forgiven.  

    Peace, gratitude and thanksgiving to all,

    Ira



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    Ira Reid
    Hoboken NJ
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  • 6.  RE: Post op anxiety

    Posted 11-01-2020 03:05
    I too have had anxiety since my diagnosis. I'm scared the aorta is going to burst etc: today I woke up thinking I can either be miserable all day or I can enjoy the day and my grand children. Worrying today will not help my cause so today I will choose to love and laugh. Xx



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